John Longballa

Tuesday, April 9th, from 6-9 at Under Pressure Brewing, you can sample myriad homebrewed beers, ciders, and mead.  So why wouldn’t you?

You can see the brand-new Under Pressure Brewery, and can also win prizes for YOUR homebrew.

https://mnbrewers.com/events/event/homebrew-review/

Wooden Nickel Wednesday at Dangerous Man! This Wednesday, December 20th, any club member in good standing may come enjoy a free pint at Dangerous Man, beginning at 6:30. Club funds purchased the barrel and barrel rack for this past winter’s club barrel project, and now that that has run its course, the rack has been traded to Dangerous Man for some beer. This is a social event, and no homebrew may be consumed, but at 7:00, there will be a board meeting. Six positions are up for election come February, so perhaps you would like to observe the board meeting, then run for a position? We need to turn over the board positions every so often, in order to get new blood and new ideas, so please consider stepping forward. No board member would be the least bit upset if you ran–honestly! 🙂

If 10:00 a.m. comes Saturday, November 4th, and you don’t find yourself in a deer stand, then we’ll expect you to be eating egg bake and sampling homebrew and cider with the club at Barley John’s!  If you haven’t attended a meeting before, and you’re there at 10:30, then I GUARANTEE that a veteran member will introduce herself/himself and pour you a beer.

Barleys John’s is once again kind enough to allow us to take over their patio for the day.  They’ll have a special egg bake ready, so come hungry!  Two volunteers will be brewing demonstration batches outside, and supposedly some of those brews will find their way to the Holiday Party (Sunday, December 10th).  There will be a door prize or two as well . . .

Bring homebrew to share; there will be a special judging area where you can get feedback from BJCP judges.

Bring CIDER!  There will be a prize for the best cider.

Pick up your cider purchase!  There will be a prize at the Holiday Party for the best cider from this year’s batch.  THE CIDER PURCHASE IS CLOSED. Members purchased all 500 gallons, so if you are a non-member who was hoping to get some at the end of the purchase period, you will just have to join the club before next November.  🙂

Learn about cider!  At 11:00, our club scientist Dave Matson will present ciders to be sampled; the ciders were fermented with nine different yeasts.  Dave might also have some doctored ciders to show the effects of adding acid and/or tannin.  Following Dave’s presentation, he and noted cider expert Chris Smith will hold a cider conversation where attendees may ask questions about the cider-making process.

Drink lots of Barley John’s great beer!  While you eat egg bake, sample ciders, and wait for your turn in the cider line, please make certain to drink lots of John’s fabulous beer.  Homebrew is welcome, but we want to make this worth Barley John’s time.  We also want to be known as a club that tips like there’s no tomorrow.

We’ll see you incider or outcider Barley John’s on the 4th!  People will be brewing and mingling until at least 2:00 . . .

• The all club camp-out is only a month away, so start planning now.  Families are VERY welcome at this event!

When:

• Friday through Sunday August 4-6

Where:

• El Rancho Manana, 27302 Ranch Road, Richmond, MN 56368 – map
  • Near Cold Spring, not far from St. Cloud

Keep reading for more camp-out details: Please let me know ahead of time of you’re coming.  This will help us plan, especially for Saturday dinner.  Please e-mail [email protected] to indicate your intentions to attend as soon as possible.

Camp Details:

• El Rancho Manana is a multi-use site.  For the campout we have a large group space off by ourselves, primitive camping or small RVs, portable toilets, community water spigot, no electricity.
• If you want more luxury, they do have more developed sites; call the campground to find out more information and rates on those.
• El Rancho has a variety of other perks including a beach, shower house, water bike rentals, horseback riding etc., all on site, only a short walk or car ride from our group site.
• Our location is an open space, not a lot of shade, if you have a portable canopy, you may want to bring it.

Cost and Registration Information:

• Cost is $25 per adult for the two nights.  If you wish to extend your stay before or after, you can do that at a cost of $10 per adult for the extra night.
• Please call El Rancho for reservations at 320.597.2740 and state you are with the Minnesota Homebrewers Camp-Out.  The sooner the better.
• There will also be a minimal charge for those participating in Saturday’s dinner.  Final costs will be determined on site, and will be about $10 per adult, no charge for children.

What to Expect:

• If you’ve been to the campout, you know it’s primarily a time to kick back and enjoy good beer and fun beer drinkers.
• Feel free to participate as you wish.
• Bring beer to share.
• Club jockey boxes will be available so kegs are welcome and encouraged.
• The campfires are always accompanied by the passing around of great beers for all to sample.  Start thinking now about what delectable delights you’ll bring in your cooler.
• The host clubs cook dinner Saturday evening, but for all other meals you’ll want to make sure you bring food for yourself and/or family.
• Of course, bring your own camping gear and chairs.
• Well behaved dogs are welcome.
• Well-behaved acoustic instruments are welcome.
• Amplified music is generally unwelcome.

Over the years some traditions have developed and some new ones are added:

• NEW THIS YEAR -Tour at Third Street Brewhouse (about ten minutes away)
  • 1:00 Saturday–no charge, but space is limited, so let me know if you’re interested.
• Group bike rides.  Bring your bikes, and let’s hit the road!  I might bike to the Third Street tour; I biked there once from El Rancho, and it’s not a long trip.
• Master of Malt
  • This fun competition between clubs has been held at the campout since 1992 (yes, this will be year 26).  Each club can enter up to four brews: one for ALES, one for LAGERS, one for BELGIANS, and one for MEAD/CIDERS.  There will be awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in all categories and best of all, you will be competing for the coveted title of Master of Malt!  The win is recorded forever in history for your club AND you get to spend a full year with the prestigious Master of Malt trophy.  It is kind of like the Stanley Cup (but not really)!
• Sour Hour:
  • A tart happy hour.  Sometime in the lull between the Master of Malt competition and dinner we will get together and break out some sour beers.  It is a very casual thing.  Bring and share if you like sours.
• Bloody Mary Mornings
  • (okay, maybe early afternoon for later risers):  Some of us like to start the day with a good Bloody Mary (remember the old saying, “you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.”)  This is another low key event, if you would like to begin your day this way, bring your own mix and vodka to begin, but also bring one Bloody Mary Builder to share with the group (pickles, beef sticks, cheese, celery, the list is endless).  Let’s see how creative we can get.
• Saturday Dinner:
  • Saturday’s dinner will be prepared and hosted by The MN Home Brewers Association.  There will be meat prepared on a huge grill trailer, and enough non-meat items that you can justify eating dessert.  So we can plan for dinner pleased indicate your participation by e-mailing John Longballa.

  If any of this sounds like fun, you’ll want to join us at the camp-out!  See you there.

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Lift Bridge Brewing Company is inviting members of the Minnesota Home Brewer’s Association to enter beers in their 4th annual 2017 Home Brew contest. One lucky winner will have his/her entry selected to be brewed at Lift Bridge and entered into the GABF PRO-AM contest in Denver this October 5th through 7th!

Here are the short details:

• Entries will need to be entered into the website and delivered to Lift Bridge Brewing Company between 5/6 and 6/2.
• The entries will be judged on 6/10. Gera Exire La Tour will be the Organizer of the competition, following BJCP guidelines.
• Any beers scoring 36 or higher on the BJCP scale of 50 will receive a ribbon.
• The Brewer’s Choice may or may not be the Best of Show winner.
• The winner is encouraged to join the Head Brewer in brewing the winning recipe at Lift Bridge.
• The winner’s beer will be released commercially and entered into this year’s GABF PRO-AM competition (space allowing). Lift Bridge will provide one “all session” entry pass to GABF, though the winning Brewer will be responsible for all travel expenses if they choose to attend.

Lift Bridge hopes you are as excited about this as they are!  Spread the word to the club! Please read through the contest rules, and feel free to contact Lift Bridge directly with any questions you may have! Please, direct inquiries to [email protected]. For more information, check out the Lift Bridge GABF Contest Rules 2017

Cheers and good luck,

Kindest regards,

Lift Bridge Brewing Company

Photo courtesy of Courtney Ives

There was some changing of the guard at the recent election meeting.  First and foremost, Gera Exire LaTour has stepped aside as treasurer; the club will definitely miss Gera on the board, and wishes to send a hearty “thank you” her way for her years of excellent bookkeeping!  Stepping in as club treasurer is Jon Hunter, and joining him on the board as new members-at-large are Alex Carlson and John Vircks.  We appreciate the new board members offering their time to the club, and also want to thank Paul Illa and Dan Dugan, who both stepped aside after two-year terms as members-at-large.

If you’ve seen the wonderful new club banner, you can thank Paul Illa the next time you see him, as it was mostly through his work (and Dave and Audrey Royer’s work on the logo) that we achieved that.

John Longballa was re-elected president, Matt Weide was re-elected vice-president, and Dave Royer was re-elected secretary.  Dave Matson and Chris Smith are half-way through two-year terms as members-at-large, and with no change in the presidency, Brett Glenna remains the president emeritus on the board.

Three thousand brewers gather in Minneapolis for three days of feting our favorite hobby.  See the American Homebrewers Association site for details.